‘Sail Inn’ is gone, but new owner promises a future for former West Sac ‘dive bar’

New owner Archie Morse (left) is presiding over a remodel at a locally-famous West Sac bar. The boat is gone from the establishment’s roof, but the maritime-themed pilings out front remain (News-Ledger photo)

FROM THE NEWS-LEDGER — JAN 15, 2014 —

By Thomas FarleyNews-Ledger Correspondent

Last August, after operating Sail Inn Food & Spirits for 27 years, Joan Washburn lost her lease. The old-time bar at 1522 Jefferson Boulevard closed up shop.

Washburn had founded the West Sacramento landmark with little planning and little idea of what was to come.

In 1986, Washburn’s postmaster, Bill Kristoff, presented Joan with an opportunity to lease a Kristoff family property on Jefferson, she told the News-Ledger. (Kristoff is now the longest-serving member of the West Sacramento City Council.) The property on Jefferson had been a bar before. Joan’s fiance encouraged her to take the plunge, reasoning that she had to diversify from just dealing in real estate.

As Joan puts it: “Shabam! I’m owner of a bar!”

Almost as surprising to her was the reception she first met.

“It was so busy initially when I first got there,” she recalls. “It was standing room only. We would cash $20,000 in paychecks on a slow Friday night. After I cashed those I would go to the bank, swap the checks out, and cash another $20,000.”

Less hectic was the steady weekday crowd, often coming in after work.

Many employees from nearby businesses wound up at The Sail Inn after their shifts ended. A steady stream came from workplaces like Tony’s Meat and Cheese, Tecon Pacific (now Clark Pacific), Weyerhaeuser, the Port, the Post Office, and the Rice Growers Association.

Joan said the customer base changed later as Southport developed.

“You now have the ‘bedroom community’ crowd versus the ‘after work’ crowd,” she recalled.

But business was always good in the early years and Joan was proud of the “Sail.” She wanted the establishment to be known first as a good place to eat, not just as a bar.

For many the Sail Inn was their place to go, their West Sacramento version of the fictional Boston “Cheers” bar.

Dan Cordes remembers:

“It was so comfortable for me that I could pass out after closing and sleep on top of the bar. Hanging out with Darren the bartender was great. Just the camaraderie of it all. A place to let go and just relax with friends.”

The Sail even made an impression on those who couldn’t go in. Paul Choate recalls passing by many times as a youth.

“I worked at Club Pheasant in 1977 and remember Jefferson Boulevard as a rural road: all but empty except for fields and Warehouses,” said Choate. “I was too young to stop at the Sail Inn then, but marveled at the boat on the roof!”

After the business closed, Washburn left to go scuba diving in Monterey. Joan spent ten days in the water, diving and relaxing. She says she is now ready to move on.

What’s next for her? Washburn owns the vacant property next to the Sail Inn, so a nursery might be possible if issues with the city and neighbors were worked out. But she is most interested in becoming a writer.

“Writing books,” she says. “That’s always what I thought I’d be doing in this phase of my life — writing books. Right now, though, I am still just trying to sit in a room with people and not say ‘What can I get you?’”

Paul Choate sums it up: “It’s sad that fun places like the Sail Inn are dying out. The Sail Inn was home to generations of local flotsam and jetsam from West Sac. All were welcome, the food was plentiful and cheap, as was the alcohol and entertainment. The closing of this homespun icon marks a change for the new West Sacramento of urban developments and big box malls. Hopefully West Sacramento will make room for more local businesses with flavor and style like the Sail Inn had.”

Choate may yet get some of what he misses.

As the News-Ledger paid a visit on the old building along Jefferson last week, Archie Morse was on the site, getting it ready for a rebirth. Decades of grit had been scoured from the floor, and the kitchen was being readied for expansion and upgrades.

The Sail Inn is being readied for a new life – as a bar and an eatery with fish and other pub fare on the menu – by new owners.

A peek inside the bar, as renovations are underway at the ‘Sail Inn.’ Old fixtures are gone, and the kitchen will be expanded. (News-Ledger photo)

Morse said he is the property owner and will be the primary owner of the new iteration of the “Sail Inn.” He’ll be working with the owners of Sacramento’s “Shady Lady,” who’ll be handling the day-to-day workings of the Sail Inn.

“A dive bar was what it was,” he said of the former Sail Inn. “What it’s going to be is a clean restaurant and bar. It’s going to be more in the vein of ‘Shady Lady.’ That has a 1920s Prohibition feel to it, and this will be more of a clean ‘fish house.’”

He hopes to open “within the next couple of months.”

News-Ledger Editor Steve Marschke contributed to this report.

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